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Don’t Expect A Big Social Announcement At Google I/O 2011

The Google I/O developers conference has turned into an event where people anticipate big announcements about forthcoming Google products. But at Google I/O 2011 next week, don’t expect Google to rollout a shiny new social network. Expect little to do with social at all. That’s the word from a source close to Google. There will […]

Danny Sullivan on May 6, 2011 at 12:43 pm | Reading time: 3 minutes

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The Google I/O developers conference has turned into an event where people anticipate big announcements about forthcoming Google products. But at Google I/O 2011 next week, don’t expect Google to rollout a shiny new social network. Expect little to do with social at all.

That’s the word from a source close to Google. There will be no major social announcement coming. Google apparently wants to set expectations appropriately after months of rumors that something would be coming.

Sniff, No Social Circles? No Video Conferencing?

What rumors? Back in March, Google Preparing To Launch Social “Circles” — Or Maybe Not, covers rumors that Google was going to launch a “Google Circles” product at the SXSW conference that was happening then.

Google quickly squashed such rumors, but that only led to more speculation that if an announcement was coming, it would happen at Google’s own Google I/O event.

There’s also been reports of Google having an awesome social-based video conference system in the works. That, apparently, won’t be making a Google I/O debut.

What About Google +1

Of course, at the end of March, Google has launched its Google +1 button that ingrates some social aspects into search. A button to put +1 on websites is expected, but no release date has been announced.

Google I/O seems a logical place for an expansion of the +1 system to be announced. But nope, apparently that won’t happen.

At most, there is “An introduction to the +1 button” session running on May 10 at 12:30PM that promises:

The +1 buttons let people who love your content recommend it on Google search and on your site. In this session you’ll learn all about the +1 button and how it can help your site stand out. We’ll cover the value and impact of the +1 action, how to embed it on your site, custom configurations, and how to optimize with analytics.

So clearly, we’ll get some look at what a functioning +1 button on websites is like at I/O. But it might not be that the button itself is going to be released. It’s definitely not that Google will announce some new major social program.

What can we expect? Personally, I’ll be watching for news on the Android, Chrome OS, the Chrome browser and Google TV. Stay tuned. I’ll be live blogging both keynotes from the event, on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

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